Unbinding Isaac: The Significance of the Akedah for Modern Jewish Thought

Unbinding Isaac takes readers on a trek of discovery for our times into the binding of Isaac story. Nineteenth-century Danish philosopher SØren Kierkegaard viewed the story as teaching suspension of ethics for the sake of faith, and subsequent Jewish thinkers developed this idea as a cornerstone of their religious worldview. Aaron Koller examines and critiques Kierkegaard’s perspective-and later incarnations of it-on textual, religious, and ethical grounds. He also explores the current of criticism of Abraham in Jewish thought, from ancient poems and midrashim to contemporary Israel narratives, as well as Jewish responses to the Akedah over the generations. Finally, bringing together these multiple strands of thought-along with modern knowledge of human sacrifice in the Phoenician world-Koller offers an original reading of the Akedah. The biblical God would like to want child sacrifice-because it is in fact a remarkable display of devotion-but more than that, he does not want child sacrifice because it would violate the child’s autonomy. Thus, the high point in the drama is not the binding of Isaac but the moment when Abraham is told to release him. The Torah does not allow child sacrifice, though by contrast, some of Israel’s neighbors viewed it as a religiously inspiring act. The binding of Isaac teaches us that an authentically religious act cannot be done through the harm of another human being. Download a Study Guide

Table of Contents:
List of Illustrations Acknowledgments How to Use This Book Introduction: The Challenge and the Power of the Story 1. Jewish Experiences of the Akedah 2. Kierkegaard 3. Jewish Parallels from the Century of Kierkegaard 4. Jewish Followers from the Twentieth Century 5. Criticizing Kierkegaard 6. On Child Sacrifice 7. Maimonides and the Complexity of the Divine Will 8. Rejecting Child Sacrifice Conclusion: The Demands of God and People Source Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Aaron Koller is a professor of Near Eastern studies at Yeshiva University and chair of the Department of Jewish Studies at Yeshiva College. He is author of The Ancient Hebrew Semantic Field of Cutting Tools and Esther in Ancient Jewish Thought as well as numerous studies in Semitic philology. Koller has served as a visiting professor at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and held research fellowships at the Albright Institute for Archaeological Research and the Hartman Institute. He lives in Queens, New York, with his wife, Shira Hecht-Koller, and their children.  

Review :
"[A] provocative study."-Publishers Weekly "Unbinding Isaac is a lucid thesis-driven tour of some of the most important interpretations of the Akedah."-Abraham Socher, Jewish Review of Books "[An] engaging and relevant book of impressive scholarly work on a critical biblical theme with ever-lingering vibrations and variations, interpretations and implications. . . . A well-prepared and helpful study and discussion guide is available at jps.org/books/unbinding-isaac."-CCAR Journal: The Reform Jewish Quarterly "An extraordinarily efficient and effective effort to call us to, and equip us for, a reading [of the Akedah] that is 'both textually cohesive and ethically defensible.' . . . Seeking that higher perception [of God's will], Koller's work so vitally teaches us, is a mission we can and must pursue, and pursue indefinitely."-Tradition "The first of Koller's monographs that explicitly aims to engage a nonspecialist audience-yet without compromising intellectual rigor. Koller's ability to write clearly and compellingly while commanding such diverse material is impressive."-AJS Review "[A] rich transhistorical study of the Akedah and its reception. . . . [A] trenchant critique of Akedah theology."-Journal of Jewish Ethics “One would have thought that centuries of dissecting twenty-odd verses of Genesis from every perspective imaginable have exhausted their meaning. Yet Koller, with his erudite grasp of both biblical literature and the longue durÉe of the Jewish interpretive tradition, unbinds the Akedah to reveal its philosophical and theological grandeur. As he unravels it, he wrests it from the grip of the dominant and dangerous interpretation that faith justifies violence and redirects our attention to the message that resounds in Gods’ warning to Abraham: ‘Do not lay a hand on the boy!’”-James A. Diamond, Joseph and Wolf Lebovic Chair of Jewish Studies, University of Waterloo “Koller’s bold claim that ‘one person’s religious fulfillment cannot come through harm to another’ stands alone as a textually rooted, morally compelling vision for sincere faith in a modern world that too often finds form in false fundamentalisms. Unbinding Isaac should be required reading for all of us seeking the voice of the ethical imperative in religious community.”-Yehuda Kurtzer, president, Shalom Hartman Institute of North America “The book is a pleasure to read, but no less learned for that. There is great depth of learning on show here, but Koller manages somehow to wear that learning relatively lightly-an impressive feat.”-Daniel Rynhold, professor of modern Jewish philosophy, Yeshiva University “Aaron Koller leads his readers on a journey through a stunningly wide range of material-ancient, medieval, and modern; Jewish and Christian; Hasidic, Misnagdic, and secular; some scholarly, some poetic, some dug up by archaeologists-without ever losing focus or clarity. Wearing his massive learning lightly, he helps readers learn from these sources even as he shows them how to critique them on ethical and intellectual levels. His own interpretation of this deeply (and troublingly) influential narrative is at once respectful of the biblical text and religiously sensitive.”-Benjamin D. Sommer, professor of Bible and ancient Semitic languages, Jewish Theological Seminary, and winner of the Goldstein-Goren Prize for Best Jewish Thought